November has been a very busy month in the Islands for visitors – I’m not sure if it’s the same every year or whether this one was unusual – time will tell!

It started with the arrival of a very large group of veterans and next of kin, of those who served in the war in 1982.  Veterans regularly visit the Islands, so much so that there some years ago a charity built Liberty Lodge, which provides free self-catering accommodation for visiting veterans.  There is a very powerful sense of gratitude to the veterans for liberating the Islands and a community approach to organising activities for them when they come back. 

As this is the 40th year after Liberation, the military laid on a special flight to bring veterans here – around 130 people came.  Such a large group cannot be housed in the Lodge or in the hotels, so the call went out for people to host veterans in their homes, or to look after them in self-catering accommodation (which is what I did).  There was also a call for people to drive during the visit, so that veterans could visit sites personal to them or see wildlife. 

It was a very moving time, many people had come for the first time and were fearful of what they would feel. There were several acts of remembrance, which are particularly moving at sites linked to particular events such as the Welsh Guards memorial overlooking Bluff Cove or the cemetery at San Carlos, as well as on 11th November and on Remembrance Sunday.  However, it also appears that visiting is a cathartic experience for most, as they learn about what happened after the war and how the islanders live and the developments that have happened and were made possible by liberation.

After a full 6 day visit, the veterans flight left on Tuesday and late that Thursday, the Princess Royal arrived and on the same flight there was an all parliamentary group of politicians – so two sets of visitors on one flight.

The Princess Royal’s visit is particularly to mark the occasion of Stanley being made a city during the Queen’s 70th jubilee however she was very busy with a range of activities throughout her stay. 

On her first day here she visited both schools and the college – which meant that we’d been putting a lot of time in recent weeks into organising those visits and I became pen pals for a time with her office in Buckingham Palace, sending accurate timings, lists of people who would be presented, biographies and descriptions of each organisation.  We themed the visits across the educational settings to focus on: Camp Education (how we educate rural children who live at distance from Stanley); SEND education – there is no separate, specialist provision here, the schools are completely inclusive;  vocational education and training, which is developing.  Princess Anne  officially opened the college, which should have happened in 2020 but of course was delayed by the pandemic. Her visits to Education were very successful – everyone felt we’d showed off the best of each organisation and students and staff really enjoyed explaining what they were studying or teaching.

Later this week we’ll be showing the Parliamentarians around Education and then there is a break until the next guests, who will be the Lord Mayors of Whitby and Portsmouth – as Stanley is twinned with both places.  I suspect that won’t be the end of our involvement with visitors though, as for example in February the winners of a sixth form competition are coming to the Islands with Ben Fogle (no I don’t know why Ben Fogle is involved, but I’m quite keen to meet him!)

It’s fun having visitors and a bit disruptive, but what I am learning is how important it is  as part of diplomacy –  developing wider knowledge of what the Falkland Islands is today and what it wants to be, so that the Islanders always have the ability to decide their own future.